I have been dipping in and out of the 3rd Class Bright Stars Quiz book for the past six weeks. It is part of a series of books from 1st-6th Class. Each photocopiable book is laid out in a similar format – one section per term comprising of twelve quizzes along with their answers and a review test, a further set of additional quizzes which are topic specific, e.g. Disney, The Great Famine etc, which would be useful at the end of a thematic unit in class.
A lot of work has gone into the Bright Stars Quizzes series. Elements from each quiz have been linked back to the curriculum. This has been clearly laid out in a very useful termly planning grid at the beginning of each section. The books touch on curricular areas including English, Maths, History, Geography, Science and some general knowledge. There is also a quiz for Seachtain na Gaeilge.
Initially I used the books as a Friday treat, where we had a whole class table quiz. This went down a storm with the children as they competed against each other for the prize of a homework pass for the winning group. I hope to continue this once per month for the rest of the year.
As the books were photocopiable, I also used them in a pack of work for the children while I was on an EPV day. This was a really handy tool for me. Some of the children flew through the questions, however quite a few struggled as the questions do require a level of general knowledge and are of a high standard.
For the past two weeks, I have been taking a different approach to using the books. I have set some of the higher-order questions as homework and asked the children to research the answers using child-friendly search engines. I showed the class how to do this in school in small group work and now its part of their homework. It’s a very fast activity so there was minimal grumbling. An example of a question, ‘What planet has the same name as the Roman god of the sea?’ The children then use Kiddle or DK-Find Out to research their answers.
There are many other ways to use the books, which I have not tried out yet, but look forward to doing so over the coming months.
All in all, there is a huge amount of content and general knowledge in each of the Bright Stars Quizzes series. It is a great way to build the children’s general knowledge in a fun and interactive way. The standard of question is quite high and will definitely increase the level of general knowledge in a well able class. If a class is already struggling and I was implementing this series, I would definitely use a book aimed at a lower class.
Here is the link to preview the 3rd Class book, which is the version I was using:https://www.prim-ed.ie/shop/bright-stars-quizzes-3rd-class/
Check it out to make sure it would suit your class!
